Friday, September 28, 2012

it’s taken me a long time to get there from where I could touch M.
Manson. Now I got a card to play – you may look into my non-profit,
ATWA, and give Manson what you think he’s got coming for Air, Trees,
Water, and you. Or I will pay Manson what you think Manson got coming –
the music has made Manson into Abraxas Devil, and I’m SURE you would
want some of what I got from what I got. It’s a far out balance."

Beyond good and bad, right, wrong. What you don’t do is what I will
do – what you did a sing-along, and let it roll and said how you saved
me a lot of steps – I don’t need, it’s not a need or a want. Couped –
coup. Ghost dancers slay together and you’re just in my grave Sunstroker
Corona-coronas-coronae – you seen me from under with it all standing on
me. That’s 2 dump trucks – doing the same as CMF 000007. Charles
Manson."

The little red book which
contains hightlights from The thought of Mao Tse-tung is the most
influential volume in the world today. It is also extremely dull and
entirely unmemorable. To resolve this paradox, we, a handful of editors
in authority who follow the capitalist road, thought useful to
illustrate certain key passages in such a way that they are more likely
to stick in the mind. The visual aid is Sharon Tate and, to give credit
where credit, God knows, is due, she will soon be seen in the Twentieth
Century-Fox motion picture, Valley of the Dolls.

1. Every communist must grasp the truth, "Political power grows out of the barrel of a gun."

"Problems of War and Strategy" (November 6, 1938)

2. Our fundamental task is to adjust the use of labor power in an organized way and to encourage women to do farm work.

"Our Economic Policy" (January 23, 1934)

3. How is Marxist-Leninist theory to be linked with the practice of the
Chinese revolution? To use a common expression, it is by "shooting the
arrow at the target." As the arrow is to the target, so is
Marxism-Leninism to the Chinese revolution. Some comrades, however, are
"shooting without a target," shooting at random, and such people are
liable to harm the revolution.

"Rectify the Party's Style of Work" (February 1, 1942)

4.The world is yours, as well as ours, but in the last analysis, it is
yours. You young people, full of vigor and vitality, are in the bloom of
life, like the sun at eight or nine in the morning. Our hope is placed
on you. The world belongs to you. China’s future belongs to you.

Talk at a meeting with Chinese students and trainees in Moscow (November 17, 1957)

5.
...the flattery of the bourgeoisie may conquer the weak-willed in our
ranks. There may be some Communists, who were not conquered by enemies
with guns and were worthy of the name of heroes for standing up to these
enemies, but who cannot withstand sugar-coated bullets. We must guard
against such a situation.

"Report to the Second Plenary Session of the Seventh Central Committee of the Communist Party Of China"

(March 5, 1949)

6.Whoever wants to know a thing has no way of doing so except by coming
into contact with it, that is, by living (practicing) in its
environment. ...If you want knowledge, you must take part in the
practice of changing reality. If you want to know the taste of a pear,
you must change the pear by eating it yourself.

Wednesday, September 26, 2012

Scene: A cell in a maximum-security cell block at San
Quen­tin prison in California. The cell is furnished with a single cot,
and its permanent occupant, Robert Beausoleil, and his visitor are
required to sit on it in rather cramped positions. The cell is neat,
uncluttered; a well-waxed guitar stands in one corner. But it is late on
a winter afternoon, and in the air lingers a chill, even a hint of
mist, as though fog from San Francisco Bay had infiltrated the prison
itself.

Despite the chill, Beausoleil is shirtless, wearing only a pair of
prison-issue denim trousers, and it is clear that he is satisfied with
his appearance, his body particularly, which is lithe, feline, in
well-toned shape considering that he has been incarcerated more than a
decade. His chest and arms are a panorama of tattooed emblems: feisty
dragons, coiled chrysanthemums, uncoiled serpents. He is thought by some
to be exceptionally good-looking; he is, but in a rather hustlerish
camp-macho style. Not surprisingly, he worked as an actor as a child and
appeared in several Hollywood films; later, as a very young man, he was
for a while the protege of Kenneth Anger, the experimental film-maker (Scorpio Rising) and au­thor (Hollywood Babylon); indeed, Anger cast him in the title role of Lucifer Rising, an unfinished film.

But, what no one else understood then, was that the Manson Family was talking about September 11, 2001, the real beginning of "Helter Skelter."

So that you might understand now, we have to go back, over 30 years, to when Charles Manson was serving a ten year sentence for a bad check. It was the middle 1960's and the Vietnam War was becoming the mainstay for selling newspapers and punishing heathens.

Saturday, September 15, 2012

Friday, September 14, 2012

Anybody know the origin of this pic? Is it a real photo, or artwork? It looks photoshopped to me. I don't recall seeing them with hair that long and Sandy's head sits a little funny on her shoulders. Is that Stephanie Rowe depicted with Sandy and Squeaky?

Wednesday, September 12, 2012

Patty was reminiscing the other day with Matt about our Eviliz Tour 2012. He did some awesome posts on it, which you can browse to review in the late April and Early May entries to Eviliz.com on the right sidebar.
Anyway, Matt's posts were, as Patty was saying, awesome. But there are some scenes that he left out that Patty wants to share with you now. Behold "Heat Waves: Reflections on the Desert:" Eviliz Tour 2012 outtakes. Ahhhh. Patty wishes that you had been there.

Above: that crazy Haboob that Patty had as her icon for a while. This photo was taken of Death Valley, proper, from Crowley Point. Patty was not familiar with the term "haboob" until Grump told her wht it was: a thick, nasty desert storm! The eviliz tour drove right through this on our way to Olancha.

Above: What is left of TJ and Ansom's house. RIP, Wallemans. See you in Fernley sometime.

Above: Bobby's truck. His f***ing truck, man! Oooooooh.

Above: Props to Seldom Seen Slim. He saw 'em come and he saw 'em go. And he's still there watching over the citizens of Ballarat from his view to the southeast.

Above: Matt, stacking rocks at the waterfall in Goler Wash. Paul Dostie tells us the road has been re-graded recently so Matt will not have to do this again any time soon. Not that he would mind, he's the freaking Energizer Bunny. On wheat grass.

Above: the last thing I thought I'd ever see in The Goler Wash: a couple of HARDCORE bicyclists. It was HOT out there, these guys were amazing.
As always, click on any of the above to get a closer look, But, wait! There's more!

Monday, September 10, 2012

The Way Out West: Claire Vaye Watkins's Stunning Debut, Battleborn

“I did have the impression that people drank far too much whiskey in Westerns, which was a problem for me, because I was drinking a lot of whiskey,” laughs Claire Vaye Watkins,discussing the difficulty of writing about the most mythologized of American landscapes. Filled with ghost towns and lost souls, her debut story collection, Battleborn (Riverhead), features the most captivating voice to come out of the West since Annie Proulx and Denis Johnson—though it’s to early Joan Didion that she bears comparison for her arid humor and cut-to-the-chase knowingness.

Set in towns across Nevada (the title refers to the state’s nickname), Watkins’s stories shift with the speed of cloud formations between past and present to follow young people navigating their own desires within a mirage of bright lights and billboards. An Italian hiker whose friend has gone missing waits for news at a local brothel (“I named the prostitutes after girls who were mean to me in high school,” deadpans Watkins); two small-town friends drive to the Vegas strip and end up outnumbered in a room at the MGM Grand, but, they assure themselves, “this is what they came for.”

Growing up in Pahrump, Nevada, where the sex trade is legal—Watkins drolly recalls her mother teaching her to parallel-park outside a local brothel, “the only place that had a curb in our town other than the Mormon church”—had a galvanizing effect on her feminism, and the author is at her most assured when writing about young women whose self-possession belies a more ambivalent sense of the realities of gender and power. The most provocative story is narrated by a young woman named Claire who, unmoored by her mother’s suicide, tries to make sense of the legacy of her late father’s involvement with Charles Manson. Recounting details gleaned from books and interviews, she’s pursued by Hollywood producers, fanatics, and a ghostly character she calls “Razor Blade Baby.”

Wide-eyed Watkins looks younger than her 28 years, but she’s an old enough soul to know that the best way to deal with mythologies is to confront them head on. Her father, who died of cancer when she was six, was once Charles Manson’s right-hand man; Watkins was a student at the University of Nevada when she read his memoir. “He was in charge of recruiting girls to the Family, and here I was, nineteen years old, crazy about women’s studies! I’d had a very flat, one-dimensional idea of him, but here’s a mistake, a transgression, something he felt conflicted about.” (Paul Watkins left the Family before the murders, and his testimony helped convict Manson.) At Ohio State’s MFA program—she’s now a professor at Bucknell University—Watkins began to write her way into this bewildering inheritance. After publishing a short essay about her father in Granta, she found a home in the more ambiguous truth of fiction. “All the stories about my father, they’re very mythic, but flimsy,” Watkins says. “ I just wanted to know who he was. And sometimes, the story is that you’re not going to know.”

This is an expanded version of an article that appears in the August issue of Vogue. To read the rest of the issue, pick up a copy at newsstands now.

In the shadows of the glitz and glamour lurk the dark secrets of Tinsel Town's most scandalous crimes. This two-hour special turns the spotlight on the entertainment capital's most captivating cases, including the brutal slaughter of starlet Sharon Tate, O.J. Simpson and the "crime of the century", the tragic murders of Phil Hartman and 20-year-old Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten, the rich kids-turned-celebrity burglars...

Charles Manson and his so called 'family' would become the most infamous
killers of the 20th Century. Their series of brutal and seemingly
senseless crimes would shock the world. But how did so many young
people fall under the spell of one man?

Friday, September 7, 2012

Wednesday, September 5, 2012

NOTE: THIS IS NOT MEANT TO BE A CHARACTER ASSASSINATION OF ROSEMARY LABIANCA OR ANY OF THE VICTIMS OF THIS TRAGEDY. BUT, LIKE ANY GOOD DETECTIVE, WE NEED TO BUILD A CASE TO GET TO THE BAD GUYS. THE NOTATIONS HERE ABOUT ROSEMARY ARE MERELY PRESENTED AS A MEANS TO THE END … AND HOPEFULLY, THE TRUTH.

DISCLAIMER: WE WILL DELETE ANY COMMENTS THAT ARE NOT SENSIBLY AND SENSITIVELY PRESENTED.

As we think about everyone we've ever known (relatives, friends, and work) do we know a single average American family who had any one of the following incidents happen in their lives? Yet, they all happened to the LaBianca family:

A son who was arrested for Grand Theft - the only crime he was caught for? Probably.

A daughter who was arrested for credit card fraud (again, probably more but the only thing she was caught at), terrorized her mother, and later her step-father's family to the point that after a phone call from her after the murders, they fled their family home and never returned - confirmed by Alice, Cory, and Anthony LaBianca.

A future son-in-law who was in a dangerous motorcycle club, Satan Slaves, dealt drugs, & had a lengthy rap sheet.

A father who was friends with the mafia, skimming money from his own company, gambled heavily, and had numerous dummy corps to hide his funds and tax shelters.

A mother who led a double life.

A family home that was burglarized on numerous occasions before and leading up to … murder.

Rosemary's Double Life:

From numerous close friends and ex-husbands, Rosemary was gay or at the very least, a bi-sexual who seemingly married the men in her life for capital gain (see the second Labianca homicide report).

From her first husband, Henry Martin, we know that while she was with him, she was also having an affair with Charles LaBerge. She becomes pregnant by LaBerge, but moves in with the wealthier Martin until Suzan is born.

While Martin is away on business in Alaska, Rosemary takes off with all of their possessions, their 2 cars, and a valuable coin collection - Martin doesn't file charges because he still loves her. Two years later (and probably broke) she contacts Martin and asks forgiveness. They move in together for the next year - but the whole time they're together she's having an affair with Reba Gage and Charles LaBerge - both of whom she continues having affairs with while married to Frank Struthers - AND, while still living with Martin, she starts having her affair with Struthers (see the second Labianca homicide report).

Rosemary jilts Martin at the last minute and moves in with Struthers and later marries him while still having an affair with Gage.

Then comes Leno who, at the time of their meeting was relatively wealthy and stood to inherit a great deal when his mother passed away.

While married to Leno, Rosemary is still sleeping with Frank Struthers and Reba Gage. After the murders, Frank Sr. tells police that Frank Jr will becoming into a large inheritance from his mother. Later, Frank Sr. accuses Suzan LaBerge of ripping off Frank Jr in his inheritance.

It is alleged that at the time Suzan had emptied out the house and, before the police could get to it, a safe at Gateway Markets and then threatened any of Leno's family members that got in her way. Some members of her family believe that Suzan had a hand in the murders.

While married to Leno, Rosemary seems to try a lot of get rich quick routes. She gets her real estate license, her insurance license, opens a dress shop, and eventually begins getting into real estate, stocks, and securities.

People assume that Leno's financial troubles were due to gambling. Others believe that Rosemary bled him dry by spending lavishly, buying a house that was beyond their means (Working Way) and eventually having him invest in real estate, stocks, and securities and forming dummy corps to hide their funds and avoid taxes (see the second Labianca homicide report).

While Leno's getting poorer, Rosemary may be getting richer and hiding the money from Leno in secret accounts.

To avoid financial ruin, Leno sells the house on Working Way at a large profit and buys the family home on Waverly. With that money he continues to make bad real estate investments - Myca Corp and a Riverside Parcel investment scam. And, begins skimming off money from Gateway.

Leno misappropriated $200,000 from Gateway. They had a combined debt of $30,000 "their properties were extensively mortgaged".

In the mean time, Rosemary is moving out of her truck boutique and into a real store front - and possibly opened at least 2 others and co-owned (good friend) Lucy Larsen's Pet Shop.

During her interview with the police, Lucy tells them that she is friends with another lesbian (Charlene Abernathy AKA Charlie) that Rosemary was probably having an affair with her while married to Leno (see the second Labianca homicide report).

Larsen tells the police that Rosemary was in the real estate and insurance business and played the stock market and had an exclusive interest in commodities.

And, finally, Larsen tells the police that she and Rosemary had long talks about her problems with Suzan and that Rosemary feels threatened by Suzan. Then, Rosemary tells Larsen that "someone has been coming into our house … things have been gone through and the dogs are inside the house when they should be outside and vice versa."

There were reported burglaries of the LaBianca home beginning in 1968. Larsen thinks that one of Rosemary's children were behind them. Rosemary says no.

December 1968 Leno pays off $15,000 of his $200,000 to Gateway and in June 1969 he pays another $30,000 (equivalent to $187,500 in today's standards.)

Yet on June 24, 1969 Leno takes out a $15,000 loan from Hollywood National Bank.

From Peter Desantis (Leno's brother-in-law and partner in Gateway Markets): For all his debt, Leno was about to buy a ranch in Vista, CA for $127,000 - equivalent to about $794,000 in 2012 - and go into the investment business.

Sometime between June & August of 1969, Leno tells his mother that he wants to leave the company and go into the stock business.

Suzan LaBerge moves in and becomes engaged to Joe Dorgan - known felon, drug dealer and a member of the Satan Slaves Motorcycle Club.

April 9, 1969 Letter from Leno to his daughter Cory: "No new burglaries to report here. No new clues either. There's been a plain clothes detective hanging around here occasionally, but I'm beginning to doubt as to whether the "culprits" will ever be caught … I would sure like to get a ranch of our own soon. LA is getting to be a pretty scary place. There are a group of hippies that have taken over Griffith Park and two pot parties have been broken up by the police just next door. That's a little too close for comfort. I have a place priced out in Escondido." - Did he put quotes around culprits because he believed LaBerge was behind them?

Bugliosi says that the LaBianca house on Waverly was vacant at the time Harold True was living next door, but there's possibly a misrepresentation here - the house was probably not vacant, it was still the family home and completely furnished with Leno's family items. It was often visited by Leno and possibly inhabited without consent by Suzan and Joe Dorgan. They possibly got to know the peeps next door (Harold True & friends).

May 21, 1969 Letter from Rosemary to Cory: "We haven't had any more robberies, but every time I come home I expect to either find someone in the house or something missing. I think the police have stopped working on the case and we haven't heard anything from the insurance company.

Conversation between Leno and Peter DeSantis - date unknown but it had to have been in late July or August since this was when Leno was forced to sell his shares of Gateway - "I've got to get out of this town and can't unless I can sell my shares. It's a matter of life and death. I'm asking for my life." Desantis later called him and said they would make arrangements as a "birthday present" (August 6th).

Conversation between Leno and his mother Corrine: "We can't live in that house any longer. We can't sleep and never know when it will be ransacked again. You're the only one who can help me."

Phone call from Cory LaBianca to Leno August 9, 1969 Cory wants to come to Waverly to give Leno his birthday present - Leno tells her: "I don't want any of you to come up to this house. Sue and Frankie are at Lake Isabella and we have to go bring the boat back. We probably won't get back until Sunday."

The above are just the recorded conversations about robberies, ransacking, and safety. Could there be a lot more going on - and an obvious ongoing fear?

Then we find neighbor and bookie, Edward Pierce, AKA Phantom was suspected of being involved in a $600,000 stock swindle. He disappeared from his residence, 2743 Waverly on August 18, 1969. During the IRS investigation into Pierce (he was $100,000 in tax arrears) they found in his residence a collection of foreign coins and off-set minted coins. What are the odds of finding two people on the same street with an extensive (and expensive) coin collection, eh???

Another interesting note in the neighborhood: Leonard Posella and Sharon Ransom: Posella's mother lived "next door" to the LaBianca's. Posella's wife, said that on several occasions Posella visited Leno. Each time he came back with money or liquor and said, "It's okay. I know them and they better give it to me or else." (see the second Labianca homicide report). Posella hooks up with Sharon Ransom. Ransom and her former boyfriend Zorba are Satan Slaves.

Suzan LaBerge

Bill Nelson (God help us all) supposedly found proof that Watson and LaBerge lived less than 200' apart in apartments on Greenwood - much as we hate the guy, this is likely to be accurate.

A brief look at Watson: Before moving to Cali, Watson works for Braniff Air as a baggage handler. He leaves for Cali with over $4,000 in his pocket and a new car. Granted that could have been a lifetime savings, but that's equal to $25,000 by today's standards and considering he worked in his parents' store, how is this unachievable in the small town of Copeville, Texas. Did he started trafficking drugs while at Braniff and got an offer for bigger and better in Cali???

He arrives in Cali and immediately starts dealing drugs from his wig shop and rents a house in Malibu - not an easy thing to achieve so quickly for a small town Texas boy. He does well for a long time, but starts using, becomes sloppy, and begins burning people in his drug deals.

At some point, did he hook up with Suzan LaBerge - whether it was Greenwood, Waverly, Topanga, Laural Canyon, or Spahn's and the Satan Slaves?

Tex's apt. at 2024 Darcena Dr.Suzan's apt was across the street (this side) from the white structure. They are about 200' apart.

Did Rosemary spend her entire life scamming? Did it rub off on Suzan??? Did LaBerge, Dorgan, Watson and eventually Manson start scheming to get at her mother's perceived hidden wealth - what exactly this is, who knows, an off shore bank account, stocks, securities, cash, maybe even drugs? And, so, do they start going to the house while Leno, Rosemary, and Frank are not there, looking (unsuccessfully) for … something?

It's interesting that whoever is ransacking the house knows exactly when it will be un-occupied.

Leno's first wife, Alice, initially told police that she thought the murders had to do with stocks and commodities. She also told them that someone had again broken into the house the weekend before the murders while Leno and Rosemary took Frank, Suzan and the boat to Lake Isabella. Another failed attempt?

They can't find what they're looking for on their own, so are they left with no choice but to go there while Rosemary and Leno are home and confront them?

August 9th, Rosemary and Leno go back to the Lake to pick up Frank and Suzan. It is alleged that Frank later says that Suzan talked him into staying and having a little more fun. IF she is involved (and we don't know that) she did this for one of two reasons-- A: she didn't know her mother would be killed and Frank had seen Watson so he could later identify him, or B: she knew they'd kill them and saved her brother's life.

No one, including Lucy Larsen, expects the LaBiancas to be home before 2AM - Rosemary guestimated between 2 and 4 AM.

That night, Manson et al, drive around aimlessly for hours supposedly looking for a house to hit. At approximately 1-1:30AM (same time LaBerge is dropped off by her parents), Manson goes into Pasadena and stops at a house. He tells the others in the car to circle the block while he scouts the house. Did Manson stop to make phone contact with LaBerge or Dorgan to see if her parents were home yet?

Manson comes back to the car stating they're not doing that house because he saw pictures of children. From there he suddenly has a specific destination and gives driving directions to Waverly Drive.

The killers arrive at Waverly within an hour of the time that the LaBianca's arrive home - they had time to pick up a paper, park the boat, change into their PJs, and begin reading the paper.

Manson and Watson go in first, tie up the LaBianca's at gunpoint, tell them they won't be hurt if they give up A B or C. They give it up, Manson leaves and sends up Van Houten and Krenwinkel to complete the perceived (by at least the women) Helter Skelter plan.

Unlike the night before, Watson seems very content to take his time in the house - they desecrate Leno, take time to take a tapestry from the wall to write in blood, shower, ransack the closets, change clothes and eat - as if he knows that no one else will be coming to the house.

8:30PM The next night, Frank Jr. is dropped off at home. He suspects something is wrong, goes to the phone booth and first calls his parents house and when no one answers, he calls Suzan's work and eventually connects with her at her apartment that's five minutes away. TWO HOURS LATER, LaBerge and Dorgan arrive at Waverly.

Shortly after the murders, Suzan is accused by LaBianca family members of arriving at Waverly with a truck or cargo van and emptying out the contents of the house - Cory LaBianca says that she didn't get so much as a photograph of her father.

Suzan refuses to testify at the trial.

Cut to 1989/90.

In her book Restless Souls, and in this article Alisa Statman alludes to a plot between Tex Watson and Suzan LaBerge. But lets take a look at what seems clearly obvious to us.

Out of over five hundred cities in California, Suzan LaBerge just so happens to end up in the small town of Carpentaria, CA, where Patti Tate and her 3 children reside. Out of a class of over 130 children, LaBerge's daughter, Rommi just so happens to befriend Patti's daughter.

And, it just so happens, that LaBerge is now friends with Watson who is due for parole that year and will once again come up against Doris Tate and her victim impact statement and one of the strongest reasons for his continued incarceration.

And, so begins what could be an elaborate, unbelievable plot. Is it possible that Watson either blackmailed or paid LaBerge to pull off a sure-fire plan to get him a parole date - befriend him as a born-again-Christian, keep Doris Tate (and her powerful impact statements) away from his parole hearing while another victim (LaBerge) makes a statement for his release?

Was that the plan - for LaBerge to gain the trust of both Patti and her daughter and that either the day of or the day before Watson's hearing, Patti's daughter would go missing - about the only thing that would keep Doris from attending that hearing? In Doris' absence LaBerge would give the parole board such a moving speech for his release that they would grant him a date.

Is it possible Suzan and Tex thought they were going to make a fortune with their story once he was released with shows like Dateline and 20/20 in a bidding war for an interview?

Is it possible that what they didn't count on was the fact that Doris would have an informant at CMC tattling on Watson and giving away his plan? Or, that the whole thing would backfire and blow up in their face by…

...Bill Nelson. He latched onto the LaBerge/Watson friendship like a Terrier and supposedly exposed LaBerge's dark side. He uncovered court documents showing her as an abusive mother. He got her ex-husband, Wok, to admit that he was scared of her, scared for his children that were in her custody, and he confirmed that she was a Satanist not a Christian. Then Nelson went on to expose Watson and his wife's Medi-Cal fraud and found proof that both, (good Christians that they were) were not only ripping off the government, ripping off donators to his ALMS, but both were having numerous affairs.

So much for the loving born-agains' story of forgiveness and healing?

All of this proves nothing. What it does show is an almost unbelievable set of circumstances and coincidences that lead to 2 people being brutally murdered in their home.

The reporter who initially said that Rosemary left a $2 Million estate? Could it be that he got the information from someone who was close to Rosemary who believed that to be her net worth? Was it embellished from $200,000 to $2,000,000? Possibly. But even at $200,000 (1.25 mil in todays standards) that's a bucket load of money for 2 people who were so far in debt.

You've seen the probate papers, the LaBianca's had no liquid cash and no investments on the books and yet Rosemary, by all accounts, was flourishing. Could even be that Rosemary bragged to friends (and Suzan) that she had more money or investments than she actually did? Something's not right. Something is hidden AND, they were murdered. Was it by someone close to them for a reason other than a black and white race war???

Suzan LaBerge had a spotless record - not even a traffic violation or parking ticket. Is she rich? No, but she has managed to support herself and her children for more than 40 years without a career in above average income neighborhoods. She has changed her name on numerous occasions and seldom uses a verifiable address.

Tuesday, September 4, 2012

This sounds to Eviliz as an attention whore looking to make money from good ole boy Charles "Tex" Watson's misfortune.

"I was housed in quad D and first saw Charles "Tex" Watson a week after I arrived there. Mike, an inmate who had been there for several months, filled me in on the inhabitants.

On our floor alone there were forty-one murderers, twenty rapists and ten child molesters." -Inmate Charles Starkey "See that guy over there, the one watering the flowers?" Mike would say.

"He chopped up his family and put them in the deep freeze. And the guy who just left was busted for collecting." "Collecting what?" I asked. "Redheads." "What's wrong with that?" "Just the heads, man, just the heads!" "Yet, despite this constant meeting with murderers and rapists, my knees got weak and I felt a chill envelop me when I first saw Watson. It was, appropriately enough, at the chapel. Mike told me there were some nice women at the Colony who visit church services so we decided to go."

"When we arrived at the Protestant chapel, I noticed one inmate giving orders to the rest. He turned to talk to the guest and they hung on every word he said. But it was when he took over the service that he showed his ability to control and captivate. All he did was raise his hands and a hush fell on the chapel."

"All right brothers," he called out, "Let's show our guest just how much spirit the Christians here can show." "He turned towards the alter and asked that all join in a few moments of silent prayer. Then he prayed aloud. It was a very moving prayer. He reached under the podium and took out a tambourine, saying 'Now let's praise the Lord with song'. He hit the tambourine against his thigh in time with the music. The chapel was filled with Christian good spirit. After Mike and I left, he kept muttering about how hypocritical those guys in the chapel were-what with half of them in for child molestation or rape or murder. Who was that guy leading the services, I asked.

He looked really startled: You don't know who that guy is?

I found out quickly enough. It was Charles Tex Watson, Helter Skelter's number one man. He had been convicted of brutally murdering seven people. He was Charles Manson's lieutenant and private executioner. Yet there he was leading a Christian service under the worshipful eyes of those young ladies. I decided to find out what made this guy tick, why he had killed all those people and what he was doing as a Born Again Christian.

We met by accident through my work as a clerk in the Clothing Distribution Department.
The phone rang and I answered my usual - Clothing Distribution Department, Inmate Starkey speaking.

Well, howdy, Inmate Starkey. This is Charles Watson and I was wondering if y'all could do me a favor? You see we've got some converts to the Lord and there's going to be a baptismal service...
He wanted some of our laundry carts to baptize the people in. I asked a supervisor and he said, Well, whatever Tex Watson wants, Tex Watson gets. What was the persuasive and deceptive hold Watson had over the inmates and staff alike?

I delivered the laundry carts myself. Tex was standing at the end of the courtyard, sniffing flowers. He sure didn't look like much. He was pale and real thin. How on earth could that scrawny little runt murder seven people? That takes a bit of strength.

He offered me a cup of coffee which I accepted. That's when I saw his 'sanctuary'. It was a small office in the chapel littered with religious books, posters of evangelists, of Jesus talking to little children. He asked me where I was from and I told him Texas.

Hey, great! I'm from Texas myself. There's not too many of us Texans in California prisons. We have to stick together. We also found out we lived in the same quad. I'm in room 8172, I said. But I don't think the man will let you come down the hall. Yes he will.

And, he did too. Tex Watson was allowed to go anywhere in the institution under the cover of Christian work. That was the beginning of my personal relationship with Tex. From that day until my release from the California Men's Colony we saw each other nearly every day. We talked sports, Texas, the law. And we talked of Charles Manson, of the Manson family, of Helter Skelter and two nights of terror.

When Tex thought back on those days, a vacant look would come into his eyes and he'd stare into the sky.

I want to tell you something, Chet, A lot of guys in the prison think they're bad. Some of them are, but when it comes to being bad in every sense of the word, I have been bad before and I can play the role pretty good.

When I killed those people, especially that foreign guy, Frikowski, or whatever his name was, they didn't exactly stand there and not do anything. I stabbed that guy fifty-one times in the chest, and I didn't think before I was done that I was going to be able to make it.

I stabbed him so many times in the chest that my hand was sinking into it up to my elbow. I stabbed him so hard that the handle of the knife broke off. These people don't know what bad is. I wrote the book on bad, and I did it more than once.

Chet, I am going to tell you something no one else has ever heard before. I'm going to tell you what Helter Skelter was all about. It was like this. Charlie (Charles Manson) had a plan, a good plan, but even good plans should be tested.

Helter Skelter was an over-all plan and it had to be tested in some way. The Tate and LaBianca killings were that test!

The Tate murders were because Charlie and I more or less knew the layout of the place. The LaBianca murders were just a matter of picking out a home that represented wealth.

But neither one was anything but a test, a test for something bigger than ripping off a few people.
That's when he told me of the plan to choose three large cities on the West Coast and subject them to a massive plot, a plot to frighten and terrorize their entire populations, to literally scare the people out of their wits.

What if on a single day in these three cities, he said, his eyes dulling with the pleasure of recollection, commandos in groups of three and four were to go into the homes of five of these cities leading citizens--a well known police officer, a member of city government, a prominent corporate executive, and two rookie cops?

And while the heads of these households were away, what if any and all living things were destroyed? Just like Sharon Tate and the LaBiancas. And, after the families were killed -- children, animals, anything that breathed -- what if photos were taken of each victim and these were distributed on the streets, in mail boxes, to schools and campuses?

It would be warning to the population to give in to the demands of the terrorist group. And it wouldn't take an army, just the right type of individuals.

He said they shouldn't have been caught for the murders they had committed and that everything had gone as planned. It was a test to see if total terror in a manner of unequalled horror could go undetected. If it were successful, then the over-all plan, conceived by Manson, would have been started.

Let's say we could have shocked the nation in our test, he said. Then certain measures were to be left to show we meant business. In widespread areas, we were to kill infants, holding them by their ankles and smashing them against fireplaces. Wives and loved ones were to be hung from the rafters.

Dogs and cats and any living things were to be brutally and viciously beaten to death. And the blood of the victims was to be used to inscribe messages of sadistic humor on the walls.

When I asked Tex what he personally thought of such wholesale and brutal slaughter, he replied, Man, I was so caught up in the whole thing. Manson had us completely. I was ready to do as was needed.

According to Tex, there was more. They were to use the cash and valuables taken during the raid to buy weapons. Charlie was going to select four of his most loyal followers and they would board planes. Money that we had gotten together would be used to bribe a certain person involved at a strategic point of entry. He would allow the four to pass through the metal detectors unhasseled.
After the plane took off, they would take over. To insure that demands were met, deaths would begin within an hour after take-off, deaths of unsuspecting persons. The pilot was to be instructed to contact authorities and to handle all negotiations.

To let the authorities know they were serious, an address was sent to them minutes after a murder was committed on that location. Whoever was sent there would be greeted by a scene of horror. And a warning would be issued to expect more of the same. It would have worked too. It would have happened!

When he said this, he took on an air of superiority, as if he were better than other people because he had killed more.

A week later, I read where Leslie Van Houten, one of the Manson girls and a convicted murderess, had been granted an appeal whereas Susan Atkins, Patricia Krenwinkle and Charles Manson had been denied.

She should be allowed to go free, Tex said. She didn't kill anyone.

It went like this...

I was standing over this woman and I noticed Leslie down on the floor. She was terrified! I saw her knife lying beside her and there wasn't a drop of blood on it.

But I was dripping blood all over the place and some got on the handle of her knife. I didn't want to leave without everyone having at least stuck a knife in the body of one of the victims. I told her to do her part. She was like a wet rag. I pushed her towards this lady sprawled out face down on the floor.
The lady was dead. I pushed Leslie down beside her. She shook her head. I turned her face up towards me. I had blood all the way up my arms and I had a knife in my hand. She was once scared girl.

If she didn't kill anyone, I said, aren't you going to help her out?

What! If I brought that kind of attention down on me, I'd never get out. No way am I going to blow my chance to get out just to testify in Leslie Van Houten's behalf.

Tex went on to describe how the girls would put on sexual shows for Manson and himself. They did whatever he commanded. But Leslie really didn't like it. A lot of times I would catch her crying. He told me no one left the family, not if he or she valued his or her life.

Charlie always had us spying on each other. If he felt someone was close to splitting, that person would be taken care of. There's lots of places in the desert to hide a body. And Charlie always wanted something brought back to prove the murder had really been committed. A finger or something.
Leslie never went on these trips. Charlie didn't trust her that far. But one time after we got back, he took Leslie aside and made her open a rag. It was of a hand. From then on she did what she was told.

Tex also revealed to me that Manson's influence and power were strongly felt in the murder of attorney Ronald Hughes, lawyer for Leslie Van Houten, a murder not yet solved. Hughes was trying to get tapes made and influence one of the girls to spill the beans about still unsolved murders, he said. He was going to work a deal for immunity. This got back to Charlie through the grapevine, and he made known he didn't like it one bit.

Hughes got fired. Certain followers became afraid of what he might know. He got dead. The only ones I know who could have benefited from his death are two who were involved in other deaths. They're both in jail now. One's Bruce Davis and the other is that woman who tried to kill President Ford -- Squeaky Fromme.

When Tex talked to me about the murders and Manson's master plan to place the West Coast and eventually all of America in a state of siege, he showed absolutely no remorse. In fact, he talked at times like it could still happen and that the uncaptured members of the Manson family were still operating on the outside.

Yet here was a man who believed himself to be a devout Christian and who prayed to the Lord daily. Why?

He was convinced that his efforts at a new 'religious conversation' would help in setting him free eventually. An example of the way Tex operated was when an evangelist from the south announced he was coming for a weekend of Christian revival.

Tex got really wrapped up in the preparation and I asked him why all this stuff for just one evangelist? Chet, he said, this dude may just be my ticket out some day.

When that evangelist came, he brought all kinds of people with him; an old man who had been a member of the Bonnie and Clyde gang; a reputed member of the Mafia; a former Hollywood actor.
Tex and the evangelist spent a lot of time behind closed doors.

You know what partner? he said one day.

I just might be out of here some day soon. This guy from the south is really interested in me. I asked how the evangelist proposed to get him out.

He wants my life story. And how I was convicted for the murders of seven people and how I'm now a Christian.

That will get the ball rolling so that by the time I'm up for parole I'll make it. And that's not far away. This southern guy will get people to write letters.

Big People.

And he will be able to swing some politicians my way.

Soon after that, in the early spring of 1976, the evangelist returned. This time he brought so many people the service had to be held in the gymnasium. There was one scene I'll never forget. Tex, the bigwig at the Protestant chapel, was making presentations -- certificates for the guests.

When Tex gave certificates to a pair of sisters who were entertainers, they kissed him. I wonder if they remembered that he had wiped out one of the most beautiful women in Hollywood. They also filmed the whole scene.

Once again Tex and the evangelist plotted in the back room. When the good evangelist left, Tex told me --

I'll be water skiing on some lake in about two years, three years at the outside.

The thought was appalling. Here was a man who killed seven people without remorse. Here was a man who had mapped out a plan that would strike terror into the hearts of all Americans and who believed this plan could still be carried out. Here was a man for whom human life was nothing more than something to be toyed with.

The possibility of him being loose in a year or two was too scary to consider. Yet his carefully-laid plan was on the verge of succeeding. He had already hypnotized many into believing that he, Charles Manson's number one killer and right-hand man in any eventual implementation of Helter Skelter, was ready to return to society.

The thought was appalling. Even for a man like me, who's done his share of time. But never for murder. And believe it or not, I still love this big country. I'm just scared of what could happen after getting to know the real meaning of Helter Skelter.

The author of the story received one year for robbery at CMC and became a confident of Watson.

The Family had a variety of buses during their travels. The last bus they ever had can be viewed at the 2 links above. Many people have asked about the buses over the years. The bus shown at the two above sites met its demise. In 1974 tired of tourists coming to see the bus it was cut up into pieces and buried over 60 feet deep in the earth.

Sunday, September 2, 2012

Paul Matthews Van Houten
Old soul and free spirit departed this earth to where his path led him. He will be missed by his wife and devoted friend, Kay; his children, Paul, Leslie, Elizabeth and David; grandchildren, Ben, Molly, Mika, Dana, Coco, Paul; two great-grandchildren, Isa and Soro and friends too numerous to mention. Van began his life's journey in Dumont, Iowa on November 11, 1918. In 1936, he joined the Army Horse Cavalary as a private. He remained in the Army until his enlistment was up in 1942. He joined up again in 1942, transferred to the Artillery. He served on the Italian Front during WWII. He was discharged as a Major in 1947. Since his profession of 40 years as a used car auctioneer only required two days work a week, he had many hobbies: training Labrador Retrievers for field trials, owned and bet race horses. The last year of his life were spent on a spiritual quest. His 33 years in AA was where he began, volunteering for hospice and reading gave him the peace he needed for the end of his journey. He was a wonderful husband, fabulous cook, avid reader and raconteur extraordinaire. He will be missed by his family and many friends. A celebration of his life is planned for a later date. Arrangements by U OF A ANATOMICAL PROGRAM.